


the look in your calm eyes

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Injury, M/M, Private Investigators, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29274144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: He should be more scared than he is when he recognizes the man as Steve Rogers, the one person that's actually come close to catching him. His throat goes tight, and one hand comes up automatically to the arc reactor in his chest. It's still there, still heavy and hot in his chest. Then he goes for the domino mask on his face. It's still there, sitting firmly in place over his eyes. He exhales, slow and shaky. Steve doesn't know who he is. Not yet.Tony knows he's looking for something. These late-night jaunts aren't just for funPepper; he need to find... something. Even if he doesn't know what it is. He just needs to find it. And avoid Steve Rogers in the process.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2020





	the look in your calm eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Firelightmystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firelightmystic/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Firelightmystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firelightmystic/pseuds/Firelightmystic) in the [stony_stocking_2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2020) collection. 



> Written for the POTS Stocking event for the following prompt: 
> 
> _Gentleman Thief Tony Stark has made off with many things over the ages; crown jewels, priceless artifacts, rare documents, Steve's uniforms on multiple occasions, Steve's virginity on one *memorable* occasion. Steve has chased Tony across the world and through multiple lifetimes, intent on one thing only. Tony thinks it's justice, but Steve has always played for the highest stakes..._
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

The memories are still a little twisted, a little shattered, a little broken, but they're there. They're there at the edges of his awareness, but when he pushes too hard trying to make them _his_ they disappear without a trace. Tony isn't sure what pisses him off more: the fact that the memories are missing or the fact that he _knows_ that they're missing. The only things he knows for certain are that he needs to find Pandora and that Steve Rogers is the one person in this world that he can trust.

That's the only reason he's here, on Steve's back porch, bleeding all over the white suit that constitutes his disguise while he tries to hold himself together with his hands. The lights had been out when he'd gotten to Steve's place, and somehow that had been enough. Enough to _let me go, Steve, just let me_ decide to do this on his own. He's stitched up worse wounds than this before and he can do it again. At least, he thinks he's stitched up worse wounds than this. He can't be certain with his memories still in pieces. Regardless, he's going to get up and go home in just a minute. Just as soon as he can stand again. And, oh, when had he sat down on the porch? That— that isn't a good idea. If he sits too long, he… he's going to… to fall asleep. And if he does… if he does there's no telling what Steve will do. He… he needs to… to…

Tony's unconscious when the back porch light turns on, spilling light over his prone form and taking Steve's knees out from under him.

* * *

Tony comes to in a warm, comfortable haze. He's not in pain, which is weird, because the last thing he remembers is taking three bullets in the back and then— then—

Oh _shit_.

Tony sits up abruptly, which brings the pain back to the forefront of his mind. He grits his teeth against the pain. He clutches his stomach, trying to get a handle on the pain without making a sound. He succeeds, or at least, he succeeds in not letting the man in his room know that he's awake. He turns to look at his companion, knowing who it's going to be before he even sees him. He should be more scared than he is when he recognizes the man as Steve Rogers, the one person that's actually come close to catching him. His throat goes tight, and one hand comes up automatically to the arc reactor in his chest. It's still there, still heavy and hot in his chest. Then he goes for the domino mask on his face. It's still there, sitting firmly in place over his eyes. He exhales, slow and shaky. Steve doesn't know who he is. Not yet.

"Steve?" The PI doesn't answer. His head is bowed, with his chin resting on his chest. Tony wets his lips and calls out a little louder. "Steve?" Still nothing.

Tony could leave. He could steal one of Steve's shirts and some sweatpants and book it out of there to get home. Bring his disguise with him and burn it, ruined as it is by blood. Tony could leave. He thinks he has before, in the twisted, fractured memories he can't reach out for.

Tony doesn't want to leave.

This is reckless. Pepper would say so; she'd say this was reckless. But there's something about sitting here, watching Steve's chest rise and fall with breath, with the ease of sleep, that gives Tony the kind of quiet contentment he's never been able to find before.

Tony shifts out from under the blankets as quietly as he can. Steve doesn't stir. Tony rests his feet on the floor, wincing at the chill of the wood. He wets his lips and slips across the room to Steve's closet. He can't be reckless. He has a job to do. A task to fulfill. He has to. He _has to_.

But why? There must have been a reason he started on this path. He just. He can't remember. There was a reason at some point. Something to do with Steve or his mother or— or—

"So that's it, then?"

Tony startles, dropping the shirt he'd had in his hand. He tries to mask his surprise, but he knows Steve will see right through him. "Rogers."

"Thief."

Tony smiles to cover the way the word cuts through him. He sweeps into a bow, ignoring the way that sends pain shooting through his abdomen. "At your service."

Steve doesn't say anything. Tony rises slowly, keeping his face carefully neutral. "My service, huh?" Steve asks.

"Always."

Steve gets up. Tony feels trapped between blue eyes and the closet at his back. He can't move, pinned in place by Steve's gaze as he is. Steve crosses the room to him. He slides a finger along the edge of Tony's domino mask, but doesn't remove it. "And what is it you think I want?"

"Justice."

Steve doesn't stop right away, his finger still moving along Tony's mask. He steps back after a moment, his head bowed in disappointment.

"Why didn't you take it off?"

"Hmm?"

Tony takes a step closer to Steve, a risk he'd never take if he thought Pepper would ever find out. "This is what you want, right? To know who I am?"

"I don't want to learn your identity identity like that."

"Then what do you want?"

"For you to trust me enough to tell me."

Tony frowns at that. There's something there, something knowing under Steve's quiet calm that gets his hackles up. "What makes you think that I'd ever tell anyone? Especially you?"

"Because I know everything you're trying to learn. What you're trying to find. What you want."

Tony's heart drops. "What do you think I want?"

"Pandora."

Tony jerks back. "How?"

"You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?"

Steve's eyes are warm and sad and they make Tony want to kill whoever put that look in his eyes, even — or perhaps especially — if it was Tony himself. "Our first lifetime."

"Neither do you."

Steve rears back at that. "What?"

"I sealed it away so that neither of us would remember." Tony's eyes go wide at the words spilling from his mouth. He doesn't know where they're coming from, what's compelling him to speak, and there are very few things he hates more than not knowing. "I had to keep it safe. Hidden. I didn't want either of us to suffer like that again."

Steve's staring at him, his jaw slack. Tony can see the way he wants to whisper Tony's name, as though he knows. As though he—

Tony turns away. He can't stay here. Not with Steve so close to knowing everything. Everything that Tony doesn't even remember, everything he doesn't know, everything Pandora could solve, could bring back. It could change the world and in _their_ hands it—

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Tony flinches. He doesn't answer. He just grabs the t-shirt he'd nearly made off with before he'd gone weak off the floor. "Don't be." Then he's gone, leaving only a ghostly afterimage in Steve's room.

Tony doesn't have time for this. If he's going to save them both, he has to find Pandora first. He has to.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic grew a whole universe in my brain, mostly formed from a cross between the Magic Kaito/Detective Conan universe and Sailor Moon. So like... there might be more of this down the line. Yay?


End file.
